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An Iranian woman is likely to be executed in the next few days for having extramarital affairs with two men. Her punishment was to be death by stoning and has now been changed to the less brutal hanging punishment.

Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani had affairs and then confessed to having been involved in her husbands’ murder. In spite of her confession, the world has come out in support of her, as it is believed her husband often tortured her.

This begs the question, how relevant is capital punishment in modern society? In civilized society? Adultery is, excuse my English a stupid reason to sentence someone to death. A country that has laws to do the same needs the UN’s intervention and fast.

MURDER. RAPE. THEFT. ASSAULT. We are all too familiar with what these words mean.

Open any newspaper or switch on a news channel, in any part of the world and you will find at least one of these atrocious crimes has been committed in one day. In many parts of the world, it is much more. So, what happens when it comes to punishments to these extreme crimes?

The obvious answer is yes, they deserve death. Emotions run very high when it comes to hearing about people being battered and tortured. We jump to their defense and in passion; scream out that the criminals must be ‘castrated, hanged or worse’.

On one hand, it is true that someone who doesn’t respect an individual’s life to live should have his own right snatched away but there are instances when poor representation and circumstance could land the wrong person in jail. What happens when he/she has been executed? They cannot be brought back from the dead.

If someone is truly guilty of committing a heinous crime, they should be allowed to rot in jail. Yes the state may have to pay for their upkeep but if the government resorts to death as punishment it is reinforcing the principle, ‘an eye for an eye’ but that really does make the whole world blind doesn’t it? *

Crimes have become such an inherent part of society today that reading about them doesn’t really shock us, we have come to accept that they occur. Is the future going to be one, where death penalties become so common that they don’t deter us anymore?